Carla Hale, who was fired from her job at a Catholic high school earlier this year after her partner was listed in her mother’s obituary, has reached a settlement with the Diocese of Columbus. The terms of the settlement are confidential, but Hale will receive some “acknowledgment” of her years of service. One thing is clear: Hale won’t be returning to Bishop Watterson High School, where she had been a gym teacher for 19 years. Instead, she will act as a substitute teacher in the region.
Hale’s saga began when her brother suggested that her partner be included among the survivors in their mother’s obituary. A student told her mom to pray for Hale in her time of grief; instead, abandoning all sense of human feeling, the mother sent an anonymous letter to the the school complaining that Hale was a lesbian. In a fine piece of Jesuitical reasoning, the diocese insisted that Hale wasn’t fired because she is lesbian but because she is in a lesbian relationship.
Under the terms of the settlement, Hale will no longer pursue a complaint she filed with the the Columbus Community Relations Commission, alleging the diocese violated the city’s nondiscrimination ordinance.
